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How to use the Annotation Tools in Zoom

How to use the Annotation Tools in Zoom

How to use the Annotation Tools in Zoom

Have you ever wondered how presenters draw fancy lines in shape while presenting in Zoom? we will show you how to write and mark things on the screen making your presentations very dynamic.

Annotations are just writing live on your zoom screen. You can create and edit annotations, and add shapes, arrows, lines, text boxes, freehand drawings, or audio files.

Do not confuse this with sharing your screen, where everyone in the meeting is seeing your computer screen exactly as you do.

This tool only comes up when another user is sharing the screen, and to see them once your Zoom session is in progress follow these steps.

Click here to view the Tutorial

First, make sure is enabled on your account:

Annotation in Zoom

A. If you have a Zoom account

Before using annotation, make sure it’s enabled in the Zoom web portal.

1. Access your login in zoom.com from your desktop.
2. Click on Admin >> Account Management >> Account Settings.
3. Click the Meeting tab and enable or check the Annotation tool.
4. A confirmation display appears, click Turn On to confirm your changes.
5. You can click the check box to allow the saving of shared screens with annotations.
6. You also can lock these settings for all users in your account by clicking the lock icon and select again to confirm your changes.

After sharing your screen or whiteboard, annotation controls will display. If you don’t see the annotation tools, click Annotate (if you are sharing your screen) or Whiteboard (if you are sharing a whiteboard).

B. If you don’t have a Zoom account and you are just joining a meeting

While viewing a shared screen or shared whiteboard select view options (either at the lower bottom or the right-hand corner >> Annotate

Tip: If you don’t see any of the tools on your screen, try pressing Esc and they should appear

Let’s check the different annotations in Zoom:

Zoom annotations bar

Mouse: Deactivates any active annotation tools and switches back to your mouse pointer. This button is blue if annotation tools are deactivated.

Select: With the Select tool you can move or resize your annotations. Select is only available if you started the shared whiteboard or shared the screen.

To select several annotations at once, click and drag your mouse to display a selection area.

Text: You can insert text and if you want to be fancy, even change the color and fonts of the letters.
Draw: Many interactive games will ask you to insert lines, arrows, and shapes.

There is a way to highlight an area of the shared screen or whiteboard, by selecting the square or circle icon to insert a semi-transparent square or circle.

How to use the Annotation Tools in Zoom

Spotlight / Arrow / Vanishing Pen: Turn your cursor into a spotlight or arrow.

Spotlight (only available if you started the shared screen or whiteboard): Displays your mouse pointer to all participants when your mouse is within the shared screen area. Use it to point out elements on your screen to other participants.

Stamp: This quick tool lets you insert a checkmark or star.

Arrow: Displays a small arrow instead of your mouse pointer. Multiple clicks will remove the previous arrows. You can use this feature to point out your annotations to other participants.

Vanishing Pen: Only available if you share the screen or whiteboard. With this tool the host can write on the whiteboard or shared screen without having to erase their other notes because this particular annotation too will fade away within a couple of seconds.

Eraser: Click and drag to erase parts of your annotation just like a magic eraser.

Format: This is where you can change the fonts or any other shapes color, line width, and font.

Undo: Undo your previous action like in Microsoft office you can press CTRL+Z

Redo: Repeats your latest annotation or press CTRL+Y

Clear: Deletes all annotations. You have a choice to delete yours or to delete the annotations for all of the participants

Save: Only if the host has allowed others to save, you can then store your shared screen or whiteboard with all of its annotations as a PNG or PDF. The files are saved to your local computer and not shared with others.

Click the Save arrow to change the file format, and choose from the following options:

PNG: If there are multiple whiteboards, Zoom will save a PNG file for each whiteboard

PDF: If there are multiple whiteboards, Zoom will save a single PDF containing all whiteboards.

It is a good idea to share your own screen before the meeting and experiment with the annotation tools. Before you close the controls make sure that you clear the annotations as they won’t be automatically removed.

Annotation Shortcuts

Undo: Ctrl + Z.
Redo: Ctrl + Y.
Mouse mode: Right-click anywhere.

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